SUMMARY: This bibliography examines 123 scholarly investigations: 99 empirical studies and 24 reviews and/or analyses, which demonstrate that women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners. The aggregate sample size in the reviewed studies exceeds 77,000.

Aizenman, M., & Kelley, G. (1988).
The incidence of violence and acquaintance rape in dating relationships
among college men and women. Journal of College Student Development,
29, 305-311. (A sample of actively dating college students <204
women and 140 men> responded to a survey examining courtship violence.
Authors report that there were no significant differences between the sexes
in self reported perpetration of physical abuse.)

Archer, J. (2000). Sex differences in
aggression between heterosexual partners: A meta-analytic review.
Psychological Bulletin, 126, 651-680. (Meta-analyses of sex differences in
physical aggression indicate that women were more likely than men to “use
one or more acts of physical aggression and to use such acts more frequently.”
In terms of injuries, women were somewhat more likely to be injured, and
analyses reveal that 62% of those injured were women.)

Archer, J., & Ray, N. (1989). Dating
violence in the United Kingdom: a preliminary study. Aggressive Behavior,
15, 337-343. (Twenty three dating couples completed the Conflict Tactics
scale. Results indicate that women were significantly more likely
than their male partners to express physical violence. Authors also
report that, "measures of partner agreement were high" and that the correlation
between past and present violence was low.)

Arias, I., Samios, M., & O'Leary,
K. D. (1987). Prevalence and correlates of physical aggression during
courtship. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2, 82-90. (Used Conflict
Tactics Scale with a sample of 270 undergraduates <95 men, 175 women>
and found 30% of men and 49% of women reported using some form of
aggression in their dating histories with a greater percentage of women
engaging in severe physical aggression.)

Arias, I., & Johnson, P. (1989).
Evaluations of physical aggression among intimate dyads. Journal
of Interpersonal Violence, 4, 298-307. (Used Conflict Tactics Scale-CTS-
with a sample of 103 male and 99 female undergraduates. Both men and women
had similar experience with dating violence, 19% of women and 18% of men admitted being physically aggressive.
A significantly greater percentage of women thought self-defense was a
legitimate reason for men to be aggressive, while a greater percentage
of men thought slapping was a legitimate response for a man or woman if
their partner was sexually unfaithful.)

Bernard, M. L., & Bernard, J. L. (1983).
Violent intimacy: The family as a model for love relationships. Family
Relations, 32, 283-286. (Surveyed 461 college students, 168 men,
293 women, with regard to dating violence. Found that 15% of the
men admitted to physically abusing their partners, while 21% of women admitted
to physically abusing their partners.)

Bohannon, J. R., Dosser Jr., D. A., & Lindley,
S. E. (1995). Using couple data to determine domestic violence rates: An
attempt to replicate previous work. Violence and Victims, 10, 133-41.
(Authors report that in a sample of 94 military couples 11% of wives and
7% of husbands were physically aggressive, as reported by the wives.)

Bookwala, J., Frieze, I. H., Smith, C., &
Ryan, K. (1992). Predictors of dating violence: A multi variate analysis.
Violence and Victims, 7, 297-311. (Used CTS with 305 college students
<227 women, 78 men> and found that 133 women and 43 men experienced
violence in a current or recent dating relationship. Authors reports
that "women reported the expression of as much or more violence in their
relationships as men." While most violence in relationships appears
to be mutual--36% reported by women, 38% by men-- women report initiating
violence with non violent partners more frequently
than men <22% vs 17%>).

Brush, L. D. (1990). Violent Acts and injurious outcomes
in married couples: Methodological issues in the National
Survey of Families and Households. Gender & Society, 4, 56-67.
(Used the Conflict Tactics scale in a large national survey, n=5,474, and
found that women engage in same amount of spousal violence as men.)

Burke, P. J., Stets, J. E., & Pirog-Good, M.
A. (1988). Gender identity, self-esteem, and physical and sexual
abuse in dating relationships. Social Psychology Quarterly, 51, 272-285.
(A sample of 505 college students <298 women, 207 men> completed the
CTS. Authors reports that they found "no significant difference between
men and women in reporting inflicting or sustaining physical abuse."
Specifically, within a one year period they found that 14% of the men and
18% of the women reported inflicting physical abuse, while 10% of the men
and 14% of the women reported sustaining physical abuse.)

Carlson, B. E. (1987). Dating violence: a research
review and comparison with spouse abuse. Social Casework, 68, 16-23.
(Reviews research on dating violence and finds that men and women are equally
likely to aggress against their partners and that "the frequency of aggressive
acts is inversely related to the likelihood of their causing physical injury.")

Carrado, M., George, M. J., Loxam, E., Jones,
L., & Templar, D. (1996). Aggression in British heterosexual
relationships: a descriptive analysis. Aggressive Behavior, 22, 401-415.
(In a representative sample of British men <n=894> and women <n=971>
it was found, using a modified version of the CTS, that 18% of the men
and 13% of the women reported being victims of physical violence at some
point in their heterosexual relationships. With regard to current
relationships, 11% of men and 5% of women reported being victims of partner
aggression.)

Cascardi, M., Langhinrichsen, J., & Vivian, D.
(1992). Marital aggression: Impact, injury, and health correlates
for husbands and wives. Archives of Internal Medicine, 152, 1178-1184.
(Examined 93 couples seeking marital therapy. Found using the CTS and other
information that 71% reported at least one incident of physical aggression
in past year. While men and women were equally likely to perpetrate violence,
women reported more severe injuries. Half of the wives and two thirds
of the husbands reported no injuries as a result of all aggression, but
wives sustained more injuries as a result of mild aggression.)

Caulfield, M. B., & Riggs, D. S. (1992). The
assessment of dating aggression: Empirical evaluation of the Conflict Tactics
Scale. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 4, 549-558. (Used CTS with
a sample of 667 unmarried college students <268 men and 399 women> and
found on a number of items significantly higher responses of physical violence
on part of women. For example, 19% of women slapped their male partner
while 7% of men slapped their partners, 13% of women kicked, bit, or hit
their partners with a fist while only 3.1% of men engaged in this activity.)

Claxton-Oldfield, S. & Arsenault, J. (1999).
The initiation of physically aggressive behaviour by female university
students toward their male partners: Prevalence and the reasons offered
for such behaviors. Unpublished manuscript. (In a sample of 168 actively
dating female undergraduates at a Canadian university, 26% indicated that
they initiated physical aggression toward their male partners. Most common
reason for such behavior was because partner was not listening to them.)

Coney, N. S., & Mackey, W. C. (1999). The feminization
of domestic violence in America: The woozle effect goes beyond rhetoric.
Journal of Men’s Studies, 8, (1) 45-58. (Authors review the
domestic violence literature and report that while society in general as
well as the media portray women as “recipients of domestic violence...epidemiological
surveys on the distribution of violent behavior between adult partners
suggest gender parity.”)

Deal, J. E., & Wampler, K. S. (1986).
Dating violence: The primacy of previous experience. Journal of Social
and Personal Relationships, 3, 457-471. (Of 410 university students
<295 women, 115 men> responding to CTS and other instruments, it was
revealed that 47% experienced some violence in dating relationships. The
majority of experiences were reciprocal. When not reciprocal men
were three times more likely than women to report being victims.
Violent experiences in previous relationships was the best predictor of
violence in current relationships.)

DeMaris, A. (1992). Male versus female initiation
of aggression: The case of courtship violence. In E. C. Viano (Ed.),
Intimate violence: interdisciplinary perspectives. (pp. 111-120).
Bristol, PA: Taylor & Francis. (Examined a sample of 865 white and
black college students with regard to the initiation of violence in their
dating experience. Found that 218 subjects, 80 men and 118 women,
had experienced or expressed violence in current or recent dating relationships.
Results indicate that "when one partner could be said to be the usual initiator
of violence, that partner was most often the women. This finding
was the same for both black and white respondents.")

Ernst, A. A., Nick, T. G., Weiss, S. J., Houry, D.,
& Mills, T. (1997). Domestic violence in an inner-city ED.
Annals of Emergency Medicine, 30, 190-197. (Assessed 516 patients
<233 men, 283 women> in a New Orleans inner-city emergency Department
with the Index of Spousal Abuse, a scale to measure domestic violence.
Found that 28% of the men and 33% of the women <a nonsignificant difference>,
were victims of past physical violence while 20% of the men and 19% of
the women reported being current victims of physical violence. In
terms of ethnicity, 82% of subjects were African-American. Authors
report that there was a significant difference in the number of women vs.
men who reported past abuse to the police ,19% of women, 6% of men.>)

Farrell, W. (1999). Women can’t hear what men don’t
say. New York: Tarcher/Putnam. See Chapter 6. (Pp. 123-162;
323-329.) An excellent social and political analysis of couple violence.)

Feather, N. T. (1996). Domestic violence, gender
and perceptions of justice. Sex Roles, 35, 507-519. (Subjects
<109 men, 111 women> from Adelaide, South Australia, were presented
a hypothetical scenario in which either a husband or wife perpetrated domestic
violence. Participants were significantly more negative in their
evaluation of the husband than the wife, were more sympathetic to the wife
and believed that the husband deserved a harsher penalty for his behavior.)

Fiebert, M. S., & Gonzalez, D. M. (1997).
Women who initiate assaults: The reasons offered for such behavior. Psychological
Reports, 80, 583-590. (A sample of 968 women, drawn primarily from college
courses in the Southern California area, were surveyed regarding their
initiation of physical assaults on their male partners. 29% of the
women, n=285, revealed that they initiated assaults during the past five
years. Women in their 20's were more likely to aggress than women aged
30 and above. In terms of reasons, women appear to aggress because
they did not believe that their male victims would be injured or would
retaliate. Women also claimed that they assaulted their male partners
because they wished to engage their attention, particularly emotionally.)

Fiebert, M. S. (1996). College students' perception
of men as victims of women's assaultive behavior. Perceptual & Motor
Skills, 82, 49-50. (Three hundred seventy one college students <91 men,
280 women> were surveyed regarding their knowledge and
acceptance of the research finding regarding female assaultive behavior.
The majority of subjects (63%) were unaware of the finding that women assault
men as frequently as men assault women; a slightly higher percentage of
women than men (39% vs 32%) indicated an awareness of this finding.
With regard to accepting the validity of these findings a majority of subjects
(65%) endorsed such a result with a slightly higher percentage of
men (70% vs 64%)indicating their acceptance of this finding.)

Flynn, C. P. (1990). Relationship violence
by women: issues and implications. Family Relations, 36, 295-299.
(A review/analysis article that states, "researchers consistently have
found that men and women in relationships, both marital and premarital
engage in comparable amounts of violence." Author also writes, "Violence
by women in intimate relationships has received little attention from policy
makers, the public, and until recently, researchers...battered men and
abusive women have receive 'selective inattention' by both the media and
researchers.")

Follingstad, D. R., Wright, S., &
Sebastian, J. A. (1991). Sex differences in motivations and effects
in dating violence. Family Relations, 40, 51-57. (A sample
of 495 college students <207 men, 288 women> completed the CTS and other
instruments including a "justification of relationship violence measure."
The study found that women were twice as likely to report perpetrating
dating violence as men. Female victims attributed male violence to
a desire to gain control over them or to retaliate for being hit first,
while men believed that female aggression was a based on their female partner's
wish to "show how angry they were and to retaliate for feeling emotionally
hurt or mistreated.")

Gelles, R. J. (1994). Research and advocacy:
Can one wear two hats? Family Process, 33, 93-95. (Laments the absence
of objectivity on the part of "feminist" critics of research demonstrating
female perpetrated domestic violence.)

George, M. J. (1994). Riding the donkey backwards:
Men as the unacceptable victims of marital violence. Journal of Men's
Studies, 3, 137-159. (A thorough review of the literature which examines
findings and issues related to men as equal victims of partner abuse.)

George, M. J. (1999). A victimization survey of female
perpetrated assaults in the United Kingdom. Aggressive Behavior, 25,
67-79. (A representative sample of 718 men and 737 women completed the CTS and
reported their experience as victims of physical assaults by women during a five
year period. Men reported greater victimization and more severe assaults than
did women. Specifically, 14% of men compared to 7% of women reported being
assaulted by women. Highest risk group were single men. The majority (55%)
of assaults on men were perpetrated by spouses, partners, or former partners.)

Gonzalez, D. M. (1997). Why females initiate
violence: A study examining the reasons behind assaults on men. Unpublished
master's thesis, California State University, Long Beach. (225 college
women participated in a survey which examined their past history and their
rationales for initiating aggression with male partners. Subjects
also responded to 8 conflict scenarios which provided information regarding
possible reasons for the initiation of aggression. Results indicate
that 55% of the subjects admitted to initiating physical aggression toward
their male partners at some point in their lives. The most common
reason was that aggression was a spontaneous reaction to frustration).

Goodyear-Smith, F. A. & Laidlaw,
T. M. (1999). Aggressive acts and assaults in intimate relationships: Towards
an understanding of the literature. Behavioral Sciences and the Law,
17,285-304. (An up to date scholarly analysis of couple violence. Authors
report that, “...studies clearly demonstrate that within the general population,
women initiate and use violent behaviors against their partners at least
as often as men.”

Hampton, R. L., Gelles, R. J., & Harrop,
J. W. (1989). Is violence in families increasing? A comparison
of 1975 and 1985 National Survey rates. Journal of Marriage and the
Family, 51, 969-980. (Compared a sample of 147 African Americans
from the 1975 National Survey with 576 African Americans from the 1985
National Survey with regard to spousal violence. Using the CTS found
that the rate of overall violence (169/1000) of husbands to wives remained
the same from 1975 to 1985, while the rate of overall violence for wives
to husbands increased 33% (153 to 204/1000) from 1975 to 1985. The
rate of severe violence of husbands to wives decreased 43% (113 to 64/1000)
from 1975 to 1985, while the rate of severe violence of wives to husbands
increased 42% (76 to 108/1000) from 1975 to 1985. In 1985 the rate
of abusive violence by black women was nearly 3 times greater than the
rate of white women.)

Harders, R. J., Struckman-Johnson, C., Struckman-Johnson,
D. & Caraway, S. J. (1998). Verbal and physical abuse in dating
relationships. Paper presented at the meeting of American Psychological
Association, San Francisco, CA. (Surveyed 289 college students <97
men, 186 women> using a revised formed of the Conflict Tactics Scale.
Found that women were significantly more physically aggressive than men,
particularly in the areas of: pushing, slapping and punching.)

Headey, B., Scott, D., & de Vaus, D. (1999). Domestic violence
in Australia: Are women and men equally violent? Data from the International
Social Science Survey/ Australia 1996/97 was examined. A sample of
1643 subjects (804 men, 839 women) responded to questions about their experience
with domestic violence in the past 12 months. Results reveal that
5.7% of men and 3.7% of women reported being victims of domestic assaults.
With regard to injuries results reveal that women inflict serious injuries
at least as frequently as men. For example 1.8% of men and 1.2% of
women reported that their injuries required first aid, while 1.5%
of men and 1.1% of women reported that their injuries needed treatment
by a doctor or nurse.

Henton, J., Cate, R., Koval, J., Lloyd, S.,
& Christopher, S. (1983). Romance and violence in dating relationships.
Journal of Family Issues, 4, 467-482. (Surveyed 644 high school students
<351 men, 293 women> and found that abuse occurred at a rate of 121
per 1000 and appeared to be reciprocal with both partners initiating violence
at similar rates.)

Hoff, B. H. (1999). The risk of serious
physical injury from assault by a woman intimate. A re-examination
of National Violence against women survey data on type of assault by an
intimate. WWW.vix.com/menmag/nvawrisk.htm. (A re-examination
of the data from the most recent National violence against women survey
(Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998) shows that "assaulted men are more likely
than assaulted women to experience serious attacks by being hit with an
object, beat up, threatened with a knife or being knifed.")

Jackson, S. M., Cram, F. & Seymour, F. W. (2000). Violence and sexual
coercion in high school students' dating relationships. Journal of Family
Violence, 15, 23-36. (In a New Zealand sample of senior high school
students <200 women, 173 men> 21% of women and 19% of men reported having
been physically hurt by their heterosexual dating partner.)

Jouriles, E. N., & O'leary, K. D. (1985).
Interpersonal reliability of reports of marital
violence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 419-421.
(Used the Conflict Tactics Scale with a sample of 65 couples in marriage
therapy and 37 couples from the community. Found moderate levels
of agreement of abuse between partners and similar rates of reported violence
between partners.)

Kalmuss, D. (1984). The intergenerational
transmission of marital aggression. Journal of Marriage and the Family,
46, 11-19. (In a representative sample of 2,143 adults found that
the rate of husband to wife severe aggression is 3.8% while the rate of
wife to husband severe aggression is 4.6%.)

Kim, K., & Cho, Y. (1992). Epidemiological
survey of spousal abuse in Korea. In E. C. Viano (Ed.) Intimate Violence:
Interdisciplinary Perspectives. (pp. 277-282). Bristol, PA: Taylor
and Francis. (Utilized the Conflict Tactics scale in
interviews with a random sample of 1,316 married Koreans <707 women,
609 men>. Compared to findings with American couples, results indicate
that Korean men were victimized by their wives twice as much as American
men, while Korean women were victimized by their spouses three times as
much as American women.)

Lane, K., & Gwartney-Gibbs, P.A. (1985).
Violence in the context of dating and sex. Journal of Family Issues,
6, 45-49. (Surveyed 325 students <165 men, 160 women> regarding courtship
violence. Used Conflict Tactics Scale and found equal rates of violence
for men and women.)

Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., & Vivian,
D. (1994). The correlates of spouses' incongruent reports of marital
aggression. Journal of Family Violence, 9, 265-283. (In a clinic
sample of 97 couples seeking marital therapy, authors found, using a modified
version of the CTS, that 61% of the husbands and 64% of the wives were
classified as aggressive, 25% of the husbands and 11% of the wives were
identified as mildly aggressive and 36% of husbands and 53% of wives were
classified as severely aggressive. Sixty-eight percent of couples
were in agreement with regard to husband's overall level of aggression
and 69% of couples were in agreement on wive's overall level of aggression.
Aggression levels were identified as "nonviolent, mildly violent, or severely
violent." Where there was disagreement, 65% of husbands <n=20> were
under-reporting aggression and 35% of husbands <n=11> were over-reporting
aggression; while 57% of wives <n=17> were under-reporting aggression
and 43% of wives <n=13> were over-reporting aggression.)

Lillja, C. M. (1995). Why women abuse:
A study examining the function of abused men. Unpublished master's
thesis, California State University, Long Beach. (A review of the literature
examining the issue of men as victims of female assaults. Includes
an original questionnaire to test assumption that women who lack social
support to combat stress are likely to commit domestic violence.)

Lo, W. A., & Sporakowski, M. J. (1989).
The continuation of violent dating relationships among college students.
Journal of College Student Development, 30, 432-439. (A sample of
422 college students completed the Conflict Tactics Scale. Found
that, "women were more likely than men to claim themselves as abusers and
were less likely to claim themselves as victims.")

Lottes, I. L., & Weinberg, M. S. (!996).
Sexual coercion among university students: a comparison of the United States
and Sweden. Journal of Sex Research, 34, 67-76. (A sample of
507 Swedish students <211 men, 359 women> and 407 U.S. students <129
men, 278 women> responded to items on the CTS. Results reveal that
31% of U.S. men compared to 18% of Swedish men reported being victims of
physical violence by female partners during the previous 12 months.
While 31% of U.S. women comparted to 19% of Swedish women reported being
victims of physical violence by male partners during the previous 12 months.)

Magdol, L., Moffitt, T. E., Fagan, J.,
Newman, D. L., & Silva, P. A. (1997). Gender differences in partner
violence in a birth cohort of 21 year Olds: bridging the gap between clinical
and epidemiological approaches. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 65, 68-78. (Used CTS with a sample of 861 21 year
Olds <436 men, 425 women> in New Zealand. Physical violence perpetration
was reported during the previous 12 months by 37.2% of women and 21.8%
of men, with severe violence perpetration by women at 18.6% and men at
5.7%.)

Makepeace, J. M. (1986). Gender differences
in courtship violence victimization. Family Relations, 35, 383-388.
(A sample of 2,338 students <1,059 men, 1,279 women> from seven colleges
were surveyed regarding their experience of dating violence. Courtship
violence was experienced by 16.7 % of respondents. Authors report
that "rates of commission of acts and initiation of violence were similar
across gender." In term of injury, both men (98%) and women (92%)
reported "none or mild" effects of violence.)

Malone, J., Tyree, A., & O'Leary, K. D.
(1989). Generalization and containment: Different effects of past
aggression for wives and husbands. Journal of Marriage and the Family,
51, 687-697. (In a sample of 328 couples it was found that men and
women engaged in similar amounts of physical aggression within their families
of origin and against their spouses. However, results indicate that women
were more aggressive to their partners than men. Aggression was more
predictable for women, i.e., if women observed parental aggression or hit
siblings they were more likely to be violent with their spouses.)

Margolin, G. (1987). The multiple forms
of aggressiveness between marital partners: how do we identify them?
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 13 , 77-84. (A paid volunteer
sample of 103 couples completed the Conflict Tactics Scale. It was
found that husbands and wives perpetrated similar amounts of violence.
Specifically, the incidence of violence, as reported by either spouse was:
husband to wife =39; wife to husband =41.)

Marshall, L. L., & Rose, P. (1987).
Gender, stress and violence in the adult relationships of a sample of college
students. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 4, 299-316.
(A survey of 308 undergraduates <152 men, 156 women> revealed that 52%
expressed and 62% received violence at some point in their adult relationships.
Overall, women report expressing more physical violence than men.
Childhood abuse emerged as a predictor of violence in adult relationships.)

Marshall, L. L., & Rose, P. (1990).
Premarital violence: The impact of family of origin violence, stress and
reciprocity. Violence and Victims, 5, 51-64. (454 premarital
undergraduates <249 women, 205 men> completed the CTS and other scales.
Overall, women reported expressing more violence than men, while men reported
receiving more violence than women. Female violence was also associated
with having been abused as children.)

Mason, A., & Blankenship, V. (1987).
Power and affiliation motivation, stress and abuse in intimate relationships.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 203-210. (Investigated
156 college students <48 men, 107 women> with the Thematic Apperception
Test <TAT>, Life Experiences Survey and the CTS. Found that there
were no significant gender differences in terms of the infliction of physical
abuse. Men with high power needs were more likely to be physically
abusive while highly stressed women with high needs for affiliation and
low activity inhibition were the most likely to be physically abusive.
Results indicate that physical abuse occurred most often among committed
couples.)

Matthews, W. J. (1984). Violence in college
couples. College Student Journal, 18, 150-158. (A survey of
351 college students <123 men and 228 women> revealed that 79 <22.8
%> reported at least one incident of dating violence. Both men and
women ascribed joint responsibility for violent behavior and both sexes,
as either recipients or expressors of aggression, interpreted violence
as a form of "love.")

McCarthy, A. (2001.) Gender differences
in the incidences of, motives for, and consequences of, dating violence among
college students. Unpublished Master's thesis, California State
University, Long Beach. (In a sample of 1145 students <359 men, 786
women> found that 36% of men and 28% of women responding to the CTS2 reported
that they were victims of physical aggression during the previous year.
There were no differences in reported motives for aggression between men and
women.)

McKinney, K. (1986). Measures of verbal,
physical and sexual dating violence by gender. Free Inquiry in Creative
Sociology, 14, 55-60. (Surveyed 163 college students, 78 men, 85
women, with a questionnaire designed to assess involvement in dating abuse.
Found that 38% of women and 47% of men indicated that they were victims
of physical abuse in dating relationships. Also found that 26% of women
and 21% of men acknowledged that they physically assaulted their dating
partners.)

McLeod, M. (1984). Women against men:
An examination of domestic violence based on an analysis of official data
and national victimization data. Justice Quarterly, 1, 171-193. (From
a data set of 6,200 cases of spousal abuse in the Detroit area in 1978-79
found that men used weapons 25% of the time while female assailants used
weapons 86% of the time, 74% of men sustained injury and of these 84% required
medical care. Concludes that male victims are injured more often
and more seriously than female victims.)

McNeely, R. L., & Mann, C. R. (1990).
Domestic violence is a human issue. Journal of Interpersonal Violence,
5, 129-132. (A review article which discusses the findings that women are
more prone than men to engage in severely violent acts and that "classifying
spousal violence as a women's issue rather than a human issue is erroneous.")

McNeely, R. L., & Robinson-Simpson, G.
(1987). The truth about domestic violence: A falsely framed issue.
Social Work, 32, 485-490. (A review article which concludes that women
are as violent as men in domestic relationships.)

Mercy, J. A., & Saltzman, L. E. (1989).
Fatal violence among spouses in the United States, 1975-85. American
Journal of Public Health, 79, 595-599. (Examined FBI figures regarding
spousal homicides. During the 10 year period from 1975 to 1985 found
higher murder rates of wives than husbands <43.4% vs 56.6%>. Black
husbands were at the greatest risk of victimization. Spousal homicide among
blacks was 8.4 times higher than that of whites. Spouse homicide
rates were 7.7 times higher in interracial marriages and the risk of victimization
for both whites and blacks increased as age differences between spouses
increased. Wives and husbands were equally likely to be killed by
firearms <approximately 72% of the time> while husbands were more likely
to be stabbed and wives more likely to bludgeoned to death. Arguments
apparently escalated to murder in 67% of spouse homicides.)

Meredith, W. H., Abbot, D. A., & Adams,
S. L. (1986). Family violence in relation to marital and parental
satisfaction and family strengths. Journal of Family Violence, 1,
299-305. (Authors report that 6% of men and 5% of women in Nebraska indicated
that they used severe violence at least once in the previous year.)

Mihalic, S. W., & Elliot, D. (1997).
A social learning theory model of marital violence. Journal of Family
Violence, 12, 21-46. (Based on data from the National Youth Survey
<see Morse, 1995> a social learning model of marital violence for men
and women was tested. For men ethnicity, prior victimization, stress
and marital satisfaction predicted both perpetration and experience of
minor violence. With regard to serious violence ethnicity, prior
victimization, marital satisfaction predicted men's experience of marital
violence, while ethnicity, class and sex role attitudes predicted the perpetration
of male marital violence. For women the most important predictor
of the experience of both minor and serious marital violence was marital
satisfaction, class was also a predictor. With regard to female perpetrators
of marital violence the witnessing of parental violence was an important
predictor along with class and marital satisfaction. The social learning
model worked better for women than men.)

Milardo, R. M. (1998). Gender asymmetry
in common couple violence. Personal Relationships, 5, 423-438.
(A sample of 180 college students <88 men, 72 women> were asked whether
they would be likely to hit their partner in a number of situations common
to a dating relationship. Results reveal that 83% of the women, compared
to 53% of the men, indicated that they would be somewhat likely to hit
their partner.)

Morse, B. J. (1995). Beyond the Conflict
Tactics Scale: Assessing gender differences in partner violence.
Violence and Victims, 10 (4) 251-272. (Data was analyzed from the
National Youth Survey, a longitudinal study begun in 1976 with 1,725 subjects
who were drawn from a probability sample of households in the United
States and who, in 1976, were between the ages of 11-17. This study
focused on violence as assessed by the CTS between male and female married
or cohabiting respondents during survey years 1983 <n=1,496>, 1986 <n=1,384>,
1989 <n=1,436>, and 1992 <n=1,340>. For each survey year the
prevalence rates of any violence and severe violence were significantly
higher for female to male than for male to female. For example, in
1983 the rate of any violence male to female was 36.7, while the rate of
any violence female to male was 48; in 1986, the rate of severe violence
male to female was 9.5, while the rate of severe violence female to male
was 22.8. In 1992, the rate of any violence male to female was 20.2,
with a severe violence rate male to female of 5.7; while the rate of any
violence female to male was 27.9, with a severe violence rate female to
male of 13.8. Author notes that the decline in violence over time
is attributed to the increase in age of the subjects. Results reveal
<p. 163> that over twice as many women as men reported assaulting a
partner who had not assaulted them during the study year." In 1986
about 20% of both men and women reported that assaults resulted in physical
injuries. In other years women were more likely to self report personal
injuries.)

Murphy, J. E. (1988). Date abuse
and forced intercourse among college students. In G. P. Hotaling,
D. Finkelhor, J. T. Kirkpatrick, & M. A. Straus (Eds.) Family
Abuse and its Consequences: New Directions in Research (pp. 285-296).
Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. (A sample of 485 single college students <230
men, 255 women> completed the CTS. Overall men reported greater victimization
than women. For example, 20.7% of men compared to 12.8% of women
reported being kicked, bit or hit with a fist and 6% of men compared to
3.6% of women reported being beaten up by their heterosexual partner.)

Mwamwenda, T. S. (1997). Husband Battery
among the Xhosa speaking people of Transkei, South Africa. Unpublished
manuscript, University of Transkei, S. A. (Surveyed a sample of 138
female and 81 male college students in Transkei, South Africa, regarding
their witnessing husbanding battery. Responses reveal that 2% of
subjects saw their mother beat their father, 18% saw or heard female relatives
beating their husbands, and 26% saw or heard female neighbors beating their
husbands.)

Nisonoff, L., & Bitman, I. (1979).
Spouse abuse: Incidence and relationship to selected demographic variables.
Victimology, 4, 131-140. (In a sample of 297 telephone survey
respondents <112 men, 185 women> found that 15.5% of men and 11.3% of
women report having hit their spouse, while 18.6% of men and 12.7% of women
report having been hit by their spouse.)

O'Keeffe, N. K., Brockopp, K., & Chew, E. (1986).
Teen dating violence. Social Work, 31, 465-468. (Surveyed 256
high school students from Sacramento, CA., 135 girls, 121 boys, with the
CTS. Ninety percent of students were juniors or seniors, the majority
came from middle class homes, 94% were average or better students, and
65% were white and 35% were black, Hispanic or Asian. Found that
11.9% of girls compared to 7.4% of boys admitted to being sole perpetrators
of physical violence. 17.8% of girls and 11.6% of boys admitted that
they were both "victims and perpetrators" of physical violence.)

Plass, M. S., & Gessner, J. C. (1983).
Violence in courtship relations: a southern sample. Free Inquiry
in Creative Sociology, 11, 198-202. (In an opportunity sample of
195 high school and college students from a large southern city, researchers
used the Conflict Tactics scale to examine courtship violence. Overall,
results reveal that women were significantly more likely than men to be
aggressors. Specifically, in, committed relationships, women were
three times as likely as men to slap their partners, and to kick, bit or
hit with the fist seven times as often as men. In casual relationships,
while the gender differences weren't as pronounced, women were more aggressive
than men. Other findings reveal that high school students were more abusive
than college students, and that a "higher proportion of black respondents
were involved as aggressors.")

Riggs, D. S., O'Leary, K. D., & Breslin,
F. C. (1990). Multiple correlates of physical aggression in dating couples.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 5, 61-73. (Used CTS and studied 408
college students <125 men and 283 women>. Found that significantly
more women <39%> than men <23%> reported engaging in physical aggression
against their current partners.)

Rollins, B. C., & Oheneba-Sakyi, Y. (1990).
Physical violence in Utah households. Journal of Family Violence,
5, 301-309. (In a random sample of 1,471 Utah households, using the
Conflict Tactics Scale, it was found that women's rate of severe violence
was 5.3% compared to a male rate of 3.4%.)

Rouse, L. P. (1988). Abuse in dating
relationships: A comparison of Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics. Journal
of College Student Development, 29, 312-319. (The use of physical
force and its consequences were examined in a diverse sample of college
students. Subjects consisted of 130 whites <58 men, 72 women>,
64 Blacks <32 men, 32 women>, and 34 Hispanics <24 men, 10 women>.
Men were significantly more likely than women to report that their partners
used moderate physical force and caused a greater number of injuries requiring
medical attention. This gender difference was present for Whites
and Blacks but not for Hispanics.)

Rosenfeld, R. (1997). Changing relationships
between men and women. A note on the decline in intimate partner
violence. Homicide Studies, 1, 72-83. (Author reports on homicide
rates in ST. Louis from 1968-1992. Findings indicate that while men
and women were equally likely to be victims of partner violence in
1970, in subsequent years men, primarily black men, were more likely to
be murdered by their intimate partners.)

Rouse, L. P., Breen, R., & Howell,
M. (1988). Abuse in intimate relationships. A Comparison of
married and dating college students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence,
3, 414-429. (A sample of 130 married (48 men, 82 women) college students
and 130 college students in dating relationships (58 men, 72 women) reported
their experience of physical abuse in intimate relationships. Men
were more likely to report being physically abused than women in both dating
and marital relationships.)

Ryan, K. A. (1998). The relationship
between courtship violence and sexual aggression in college students.
Journal of Family Violence, 13, 377-394. (A sample of 656 college
students <245 men, 411 women> completed the CTS. Thirty four percent
of the women and 40% of the men reported being victims of their partner's
physical aggression.)

Sack, A. R., Keller, J. F., & Howard, R.
D. (1982). Conflict tactics and violence in dating situations.
International Journal of Sociology of the Family, 12, 89-100. (Used
the CTS with a sample of 211 college students, 92 men, 119 women.
Results indicate that there were no differences between men and women with
regard to the expression of physical violence.)

Saenger, G. (1963). Male and female relations
in the American comic strip. In D. M. White & R. H. Abel (Eds.),
The funnies, an American idiom (pp. 219-231). Glencoe, NY: The Free Press.
(Twenty consecutive editions of all comic strips in nine New York City
newspapers in October, 1950 were examined. Results reveal that
husbands were victims of aggression in 63% of conflict situations while
wives were victims in 39% of situations. In addition, wives were
more aggressive in 73% of domestic situations, in 10% of situations, husbands
and wives were equally aggressive and in only 17% of situations were husbands
more violent than wives.)

Schafer, J., Caetano, R., & Clark, C. L.
(1998). Rates of intimate partner violence in the United States.
American journal of Public Health, 88, 1702-1704. (Used modified
CTS and examined reports of partner violence in a representative sample
of 1635 married and cohabiting couples. Both partners reports were
used to estimate the following lower and upper bound rates: 5.21% and 13.61%
for male to female violence, and 6.22% and 18.21 % for female to male violence.)

Sigelman, C. K., Berry, C. J., &
Wiles, K. A. (1984). Violence in college students' dating relationships.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 5, 530-548. (Surveyed 504 college
students <116 men, 388 women> with the Conflict Tactics Scale and found
that men and women were similar in the overall amount of violence they
expressed but that men reported experiencing significantly more violence
than women.)

Sommer, R. (1994). Male and female partner
abuse: Testing a diathesis-stress model. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. (The study was in two waves:
the first was from 1989-1990 and included a random sample of 452 married
or cohabiting women and 447 married or cohabiting men from Winnipeg, Canada;
the second was from 1991-1992 and included 368 women and 369 men all of
whom participated in the first wave. Subjects completed the CTS & other
assessment instruments. 39.1% of women reported being physically aggressive
(16.2% reporting having perpetrated severe violence) at some point in their
relationship with their male partner. While 26.3% of men reported
being physically aggressive (with 7.6% reporting perpetrating severe violence)
at some point in their relationship with their female partner. Among the
perpetrators of partner abuse, 34.8% of men and 40.1% of women reported
observing their mothers hitting their fathers. Results indicate that
21% of "males' and 13% of females' partners required medical attention
as a result of a partner abuse incident." Results also indicate that "10%
of women and 15% of men perpetrated partner abuse in self defense.")

Sommer, R., Barnes, G. E. & Murray, R.
P. (1992). Alcohol consumption, alcohol abuse, personality and female
perpetrated spouse abuse. Journal of Personality
and Individual Differences, 13, 1315-1323. (The responses from a subsample
of 452 women drawn from a sample of 1,257 Winnipeg residents were analyzed.
Using the CTS, it was found that 39% of women physically aggressed against
their male partners at some point in their relationship. Younger women
with high scores on Eysenck's P scale were most likely to perpetrate violence.
Note: The sample of subjects is the same as the one cited in Sommer's 1994
dissertation.)

Sorenson, S. B., & Telles, C. A. (1991).
Self reports of spousal violence in a Mexican-American and non-Hispanic
white population. Violence and Victims,
6, 3-15. (Surveyed 1,243 Mexican-Americans and 1,149 non-Hispanic whites
and found that women compared to men reported higher rates of hitting,
throwing objects, initiating violence, and striking first more than once.
Gender difference was significant only for non-Hispanic whites.)

Spencer, G. A., & Bryant, S. A.
(2000). Dating violence: A comparison of rural, suburban and urban
teens. Journal of Adolescent Health, 25 (5) 302-305. (A sample of
2094 high school students in upper New York State indicated their experience of
physical dating violence. There were a similar number of boys and girls
surveyed, with more subjects from urban areas than rural or suburban
areas. The majority of subjects were white non-Hispanic. Males in
each region were more likely to report being victims of physical dating violence
than females in each region. Specifically, 30% of rural boys and 20% of
urban and 20% of suburban boys reported being victims of partner physical
aggression while 25% of rural girls and 16% of suburban and 13% of urban girls
reported victimization.)

Steinmetz, S. K. (1977-78). The
battered husband syndrome. Victimology: An International Journal,
2, 499-509. (A pioneering article suggesting that the incidence of husband
beating was similar to the incidence of wife beating.)

Steinmetz, S. K. (1980). Women and violence:
victims and perpetrators. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 34, 334-350.
(Examines the apparent contradiction in women's role as victim and perpetrator
in domestic violence.)

Steinmetz, S. K. (1981). A cross cultural
comparison of marital abuse. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare,
8, 404-414. (Using a modified version of the CTS, examined marital
violence in small samples from six societies: Finland, United States, Canada,
Puerto Rico, Belize, and Israel <total n=630>. Found that "in
each society the percentage of husbands who used violence was similar to
the percentage of violent wives." The major exception was Puerto
Rico where men were more violent. Author also reports that, "Wives
who used violence... tended to use greater amounts.")

Stets, J. E. & Henderson, D. A. (1991).
Contextual factors surrounding conflict resolution while dating: results
from a national study. Family Relations, 40, 29-40. (Drawn
from a random national telephone survey, daters <n=277; men=149, women=128>
between the ages of 18 and 30, who were single, never married and in a
relationship during the past year which lasted at least two months with
at least six dates were examined with the Conflict Tactics Scale.
Findings reveal that over 30% of subjects used physical aggression in their
relationships, with 22% of the men and 40% of the women reported using
some form of physical aggression. Women were "6 times more likely
than men to use severe aggression <19.2% vs. 3.4%>...Men were twice
as likely as women to report receiving severe aggression <15.7% vs.
8%>." Also found that younger subjects and those of lower socioeconomic
status <SES> were more likely to use physical aggression.)

Stets, J. E., & Pirog-Good, M. A. (1987).
Violence in dating relationships, Social Psychology Quarterly, 50, 237-246.
(Examined a college sample of 505 white students. Found that men
and women were similar in both their use and reception of violence.
Jealousy was a factor in explaining dating violence for women.)

Stets, J. E. & Pirog-Good, M. A.
(1989). Patterns of physical and sexual abuse for men and women in
dating relationships: A descriptive analysis, Journal of Family Violence,
4, 63-76. (Examined a sample of 287 college students <118 men
and 169 women> and found similar rates for men and women of low level physical
abuse in dating relationships. More women than men were pushed or
shoved <24% vs 10%> while more men than women were slapped <12% vs
8%>. In term of unwanted sexual contact 22% of men and 36% of women
reported such behavior. The most frequent category for both men <18%>
and women <19%> was the item, "against my will my partner initiated
necking".)

Stets, J. E., & Straus, M. A. (1990).
Gender differences in reporting marital violence and its medical
and psychological consequences. In M. A. Straus & R. J. Gelles
(Eds.), Physical violence in American families: Risk factors and
adaptations to violence in 8,145 families (pp. 151-166). New Brunswick,
NJ: Transaction. (Reports information regarding the initiation of violence.
In a sample of 297 men and 428 women, men said they struck the first blow
in 43.7% of cases, and their partner hit first in 44.1% of cases and could
not disentangle who hit first in remaining 12.2%. Women report hitting
first in 52.7% of cases, their partners in 42.6% and could not disentangle
who hit first in remaining 4.7%. Authors conclude that violence by
women is not primarily defensive.)

Straus, M. (1980). Victims and aggressors in
marital violence. American Behavioral Scientist, 23, 681-704. (Reviews
data from the 1975 National Survey. Examined a subsample of 325 violent
couples and found that in 49.5% of cases both husbands and wives committed
at least one violent act, while husbands alone were violent in 27.7% of
the cases and wives alone were violent in 22.7% of the cases.
Found that 148 violent husbands had an average number of 7.1 aggressive
acts per year while the 177 violent wives averaged 6.8 aggressive acts
per year.)

Straus, M. A. (1993). Physical assaults by
wives: A major social problem. In R. J. Gelles & D. R. Loseke (Eds.),
Current controversies on family violence pp. 67-87. Newbury Park,
CA:Sage. (Reviews literature and concludes that women initiate physical
assaults on their partners as often as men do.)

Straus, M. A. (1995). Trends in
cultural norms and rates of partner violence: An update to 1992.
In S. M. Stich & M. A. Straus (Eds.) Understanding partner violence:
Prevalence, causes, consequences, and solutions (pp. 30-33). Minneapolis,
MN: National Council on Family Relations. (Reports finding that while the
approval of a husband slapping his wife declined dramatically from 1968
to 1994 <21% to 10%> the approval of a wife slapping her husband did
not decline but remained at 22% during the same period. The most
frequently mentioned reason for slapping for both partners was sexual unfaithfulness.
Also reports that severe physical assaults by men declined by 48% from
1975 to 1992--38/1000 to 19/1000 while severe assaults by women did not
change from 1975 to 1992 and remained above 40/1000. Suggests that
public service announcements should be directed at female perpetrated violence
and that school based programs "explicitly recognize and condemn violence
by girls as well as boys.")

Straus, M. A. (1998). The controversy over
domestic violence by women: A methodological, theoretical, and sociology
of science analysis. Paper presented at Claremont Symposium on Applied
Social Psychology, Claremont, CA. (Examines issue of differential
rates of assaults between crime studies and couple conflict studies. Provides
a sociological explanation to account for assaults by women within the
family.)

Straus, M. A., & Gelles, R. J. (1986).
Societal change and change in family violence from 1975 to 1985 as revealed
by two national surveys. Journal of Marriage and
the Family, 48, 465-479. (Reviewed data from two large sample national
violence surveys of married couples and report that men
and women assaulted each other at approximately equally rates, with women
engaging in minor acts of violence at a higher rate than men. Sample size
in 1975 survey=2,143; sample size in 1985 survey=6,002.)

Straus, M. A., Gelles, R. J., & Steinmetz,
S. K. (1981). Behind closed doors: Violence in the American family,
Garden City, NJ: Anchor. (Reports findings from National Family Violence
survey conducted in 1975. In terms of religion, found that Jewish
men had the lowest rates of abusive spousal violence (1%), while Jewish
women had a rate of abusive spousal violence which was more than double
the rate for Protestant women <7%>, pp. 128-133. Abusive violence
was defined as an "act which has a high potential for injuring the person
being hit," pp.21-2.)

Straus, M. A., Hamby, S. L., Boney-McCoy, S.,
& Sugarman, D. B. (1996). The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales
(CTS2). Development and preliminary psychometric data. Journal
of Family Issues, 17, 283-316. (The revised CTS has clearer differentiation
between minor and severe violence and new scales to measure sexual coercion
and physical injury. Used the CTS2 with a sample of 317 college students
<114 men, 203 women> and found that: 49% of men and 31% of women reported
being a victim of physical assault by their partner; 38% of men and 30%
of women reported being a victim of sexual coercion by their partner; and
16% of men and 14% of women reported being seriously injured by their partners.)

Straus, M. A., & Kaufman Kantor, G. (1994,
July). Change in spouse assault rates from 1975-1992: A comparison
of three national surveys in the United States. Paper presented at
the Thirteenth World Congress of Sociology, Bielefeld, Germany. (Reports
that the trend of decreasing severe assaults by husbands found in the National
Survey from 1975 to 1985 has continued in the 1992 survey while wives maintained
higher rates of assault.)

Straus, M. A., Kaufman Kantor, G., & Moore,
D. W. (1994, August). Change in cultural norms approving marital
violence from 1968 to 1994. Paper presented at the American Sociological
Association, Los Angeles, CA. (Compared surveys conducted in 1968
<n=1,176>, 1985 <n=6,002>, 1992 <n=1,970>, and 1994 <n=524>,
with regard to the approval of facial slapping by a spouse. Approval
of slapping by husbands decreased from 21% in 1968 to 13% in 1985, to 12%
in 1992, to 10% in 1994. The approval of slapping by wives was 22%
in 1968 and has not declined over the years.)

Straus, M. A., & Mouradian, V. (1999). (Study
of college students report of injuries suffered in dating situations).
Unpublished data. ((In a study of 1,034 dating couples AT 2 US universities
injury rates based on responses to the revised CTS (CTS2) revealed that
9.9% of men and 9.4% of women report being injured by the opposite sex.
In terms of inflicting injuries, 10.1% men and 8.0% indicated that they
inflicted injuries on their partners.)

Szinovacz, M. E. (1983). Using couple data
as a methodological tool: The case of marital violence. Journal of
Marriage and the Family, 45, 633-644. (Used Conflict Tactics Scale with
103 couples and found that the wives' rates of physical aggression was
somewhat higher than husbands'.)

Tang, C. S. (1994). Prevalence of spouse
aggression in Hong Kong. Journal of Family Violence, 9, 347-356.
(Subjects were 382 undergraduates <246 women, 136 men> at the Chinese
University in Hong Kong. The CTS was used to assess students' evaluation
of their parents responses during family conflict. 14% of students
reported that their parents engaged in physical violence. "Mothers
were as likely as fathers to use actual physical force toward their spouses.")

Thompson Jr., E. H. (1990). Courtship
violence and the male role. Men's Studies Review, 7, (3) 1, 4-13.
(Subjects were 336 undergraduates <167 men, 169 women> who completed
a modified version of the CTS. Found that 24.6% of men compared to
28.4% of women expressed physical violence toward their dating partners
within the past two years. Found that women were twice as likely
as men to slap their partners.)

Thompson Jr., E. H. (1991). The maleness
of violence in data relationships: an appraisal of stereotypes. Sex
Roles, 24, 261-278. (In a more extensive presentation of his 1990
article, the author concludes that, "a more masculine and/or less feminine
gender orientation and variations in relationship seriousness proved to
be the two strongest predictors of both men's and women's involvement in
courtship violence.")

Tyree, A., & Malone, J. (1991). How
can it be that wives hit husbands as much as husbands hit wives and none
of us knew it? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American
Sociological Association. (Reviews the literature and discusses results
from their study attempting to predict spousal violence. Found that women's violence is correlated with a history of hitting
siblings and a desire to improve contact with partners.)

Vivian, D., & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J.
(1996). Are bi-directionally violent couples mutually victimized?
In L. K. Hamberger & C. Renzetti (Eds.) Domestic partner
abuse (pp. 23-52). New York: Springer. (Authors found using a modified
version of the CTS, that in a sample of 57 mutually aggressive couples,
there were no significant differences between husbands' and wives' reports
concerning the frequency and severity of assault victimization. With
regard to injuries, 32 wives and 25 husbands reported the presence of a
physical injury which resulted from partner aggression.)

Waiping, A. L., & Sporakowski, M.
J. (1989). The continuation of violent dating relationships among
college students. Journal of College Student Development, 30, 432-439.
(Using a modified version of the CTS, authors examined courtship violence
in a sample of 422 college students <227 women, 195 men>. Women
more often than men <35.3% vs 20.3%> indicated that they physically
abused their partners.)

White, J. W., & Humphrey, (1994).
Women's aggression in heterosexual conflicts. Aggressive Behavior,
20, 195-202. (Eight hundred and twenty nine women <representing
84% of entering class of women> 17 and 18 years old, entering the university
for the first time completed the CTS and other assessment instruments.
Results reveal that 51.5% of subjects used physical aggression at least
once in their prior dating relationships and, in the past year, 30.2% reported
physically aggressing against their male partners. Past use of physical
aggression was the best predictor of current aggression. The witnessing
and experiencing of parental aggression also predicted present aggression.)

White, J. W., & Kowalski, R. M. (1994).
Deconstructing the myth of the nonaggressive woman: A feminist analysis.
Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18, 487-508. (A review and analysis which
acknowledges that "women equal or exceed men in number of reported aggressive
acts committed within the family." Examines a variety of explanations
to account for such aggression.)

White, J. W., & Koss, M. P. (1991).
Courtship violence: Incidence in a national sample of higher education
students. Violence and Victims, 6, 247-256. (In a representative
sample of 2,603 women and 2,105 men it was found that 37% of the men and
35% of women inflicted some form of physical aggression, while 39% of the
men and 32% of the women received some form of physical aggression.)

Wilson, M. I. & Daley, M. (1992).
Who kills whom in spouse killings? On the exceptional sex ratio of
spousal homicides in the United States. Criminology, 30, 189-215.
(Authors summarize research which indicates that between 1976 and 1985,
for every 100 men who killed their wives, about 75 women killed their husbands.
Authors report original data from a number of cities, e.g., Chicago, Detroit,
Houston, where the ratio of wives as perpetrators exceeds that of husbands.)

An earlier version of this paper appeared in Sexuality and Culture, 1997, 1, 273-286.

Portions of this paper were also presented at the American Psychological Society Convention in Washington, D.C. May 24, 1997.

You can find out more about Dr. Martin Fiebert and the research he has conducted at his Web site.